Fig. 4
From: Shank3 deficiency elicits autistic-like behaviors by activating p38α in hypothalamic AgRP neurons
Activated p38α in AgRP neurons elicits excessive stereotypic behavior and impaired sociability in WT mice. A. schematic of generating p38αAgRP-176/327 mice and immunofluorescence staining of p-p38α (green, 488 nm, FITC). B and C, the groom time and bouts in 24 h of p38αAgRP-con and p38αAgRP-176/327 mice. D. the total distance in 24 h of p38αAgRP-con and p38αAgRP-176/327 mice. E. the activity time in 24 h of p38αAgRP-con and p38αAgRP-176/327 mice. F. the first phase of the three-chamber test, the time of p38αAgRP-con and p38αAgRP-176/327 mice in stranger1 chamber. G. the second phase of the three-chamber test, the time of p38αAgRP-con and p38αAgRP-176/327 mice in stranger2 chamber. p38αAgRP-con and p38αAgRP-176/327 male mice were used for the experiment, 8 mice in p38αAgRP-con and 9 mice in p38αAgRP-176/327 group. Mice were subjected to Home-Cage monitoring test at the age of 8–9 weeks, and subjected to three-chamber test at the age of 9–10 weeks. Statistical analysis: data were analyzed using unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test (Prism9, GraphPad Software Inc.). Data were represented as Mean ± SD. Significance levels are indicated with *p < 0.05.